Morgan Stanley Gushes on the Internet of Things

Analysts take a deep dive into the trend with 29-page note

Cisco (CSCO) CEO John Chambers is a big believer in the “Internet of Things” — and now the research and projections CSCO that popularized surrounding the Internet of Things has piqued the interest of others, including Morgan Stanley analysts.

Morgan Stanley recently published a hefty 29-page research note on the Internet of Things mega-trend last week — full of data from CSCO and others, several different definitions, stock recommendations and more.

For those who don’t know, the Internet of Things is the concept that more and more inanimate and animate objects — from smartphones to medical equipment to cattle — will be connected to the Internet and each other over time.

“The Internet of Things is an army of tens of billions of tiny robots making our lives easier.”

I’m personally most familiar with numbers tossed out by CSCO reminding us just how huge this trend could be, but the research note also used predictions from other sources. Take a look at the wide range of predictions:

Intel forecasts that the Internet of Things will represent a 3.8 billion-device opportunity by 2015.

ABI research says the Internet of Things will be a 30 billion-device opportunity by 2020.

CSCO research says 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020, which will translate to $14.4 trillion in bottom-line potential for companies at the Internet of Things forefront.

The report’s authors are expecting 4 billion to 5 billion connected hubs – which means smartphones that can connect to devices, according to Barron’s — by 2016.

What does that mean for investors? Well, it could be a good sign for Cisco stock if the company is able to lead or cash in on the trend. But Morgan Stanley’s analysts have a different list of stocks they think will lead the Internet of Things charge besides CSCO, and breaks it down by aspects of the trend.

Categories include microcontrollers, sensors, wireless connectivity and software, while the list of stocks includes Apple (AAPL), ARM (ARM), Texas Instruments (TXN), Broadcom (BRCM), Qualcomm (QCOM), Splunk (SPLK), Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS) and many more. Most companies on the list have their hand in more than one aspect, too.

Of course, the Internet of Things is still in its early stages, so it remains to be seen which of these companies — whether an IT giant like CSCO or a gadget company like AAPL — is able to cash in the most on the booming trend.

One thing’s for sure, though: The Internet of Things is something to keep your eye on.